Consumer confidence is at the highest level since 2000 as Wall Street touts the best economy in ten years.
The surge in confidence comes as stocks outpace expectations for the first time since April. But at least one analyst warns looks can be deceiving.
"The stock market is at an all-time high, we have unemployment below four percent, wage growth is finally picking up," says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at BankRate.com. "We're in good shape relative to where we've been the last ten years, but considering what the last ten years have held, it's nothing to write home about."
The Fed is expected to raise its key interest rate in December, but inflation has not caught up.
"They have an inflation target of two percent a year, we're well below that, and it's no longer a sure fire trend toward the two percent mark," says McBride. "The Fed keeps citing various temporary factors but at some point temporary factors are no longer temporary."
"Businesses are not growing the top line," he added. "If they're not able to pass along higher prices to their customers it's really difficult to pass along substantive wage gains to their employees, and that's the conundrum we've been in from an economic standpoint."
McBride says there's also uncertainty who President Trump will name as Fed chairman early next year.